Arizona State on outside looking in of NCAA Tournament as regular season ends

With the Pac-12 Tournament right around the corner, the Arizona Wildcats and Arizona State Sun Devils have different fates heading into March Madness.

Arizona State (20-11, 11-9) was projected to be one of the final teams in the NCAA tournament before losing two consecutive games over the weekend on the road to No. 4 UCLA and USC.

After the Sun Devils’ loss to USC on Saturday, ASU is locked in to a No. 6 seed in the Pac-12 and will take on No. 11 Oregon State in the first round of the conference tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The winner will take on No. 3 seed USC in the second round.

The 2023 Pac-12 Tournament Bracket. pic.twitter.com/Oou2JA58I2

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 5, 2023

ASU currently ranks No. 62 in the Ken Pomeroy rankings. The Sun Devils are 4-4 in Quad 1 games, 5-5 in Quad 2, 4-0 in Quad 3 and 7-1 in Quad 4 (loss to Texas Southern). This also puts Hurley’s squad at No. 65 in NET.

According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi following Saturday’s waves of games, ASU is listed in the “First Four Out” group with Oklahoma State, Clemson and Utah State.

Of 62 NCAA brackets collected on Bracket Matrix, Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils were included in the field on 33 of them, 31 as an 11 seed and two as a 12.

Arizona (25-6, 14-6) is comfortably in the field, currently ranked No. 8 in the country but also suffered a split in Los Angeles falling to UCLA on Saturday.

Arizona is slotted as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest bracket, according to Lunardi.

On Bracket Matrix, Arizona is listed as a two-seed on a majority of brackets while appearing as a three on some.

Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats rank No. 11 in Pomeroy’s rankings. They have also posted an 8-3 record in Quad 1 games, 6-3 in Quad 2, 3-0 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4, good enough for the No. 11 NET ranking as well.